• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, February 2, 2015

By now you've seen the Nationwide Super Bowl ad in which a boy laments the fact that he will never be able to ride a bike, get cooties, get married, learn to fly or travel the word because...he's dead. Yeah, that little bit of sweetness ran during the Super Bowl for all to see. And no one was pleased. In fact, Nationwide had to issue an apology of sorts for the dour ad.

But Durham-based McKinney, which has had the Nationwide account since 2009, isn't on the receiving end of the spot's blowback. Why? Because they didn't create the ad. They did, however, create the other Nationwide ad which aired during the game; the funny one featuring a disappearing Mindy Kaling.

And while Nationwide, itself, is taking the brunt of the backlash, Ogilvy New York has likely got its tail between its legs this week because they are the ones that created the dead boy ad.

Defending the ad, the Nationwide statement read: “Thousands of people visited MakeSafeHappen.com, a new website to help educate parents and caregivers with information and resources in an effort to make their homes safer and avoid a potential injury or death. While some did not care for the ad, we hoped it served to begin a dialogue to make safe happen for children everywhere.”